Backflip on land pledge by Baillieu

The Baillieu government will renege on an election pledge to scrap Melbourne’s land release planning agency, the Growth Areas Authority, and will instead bolster its powers in a bid to increase housing supply.

The government is also examining the sale of slabs of the $450 million state-owned housing land bank as part of its shake-up of development on the urban fringe.

Victoria has dominated the nation’s housing approvals statistics in recent years – in November it accounted for 36 per cent of all approvals – meaning policy changes affecting housing supply there could have national economic implications as well as an effect on a number of listed companies.

Planning Minister
Matthew Guy
told The Australian Financial Review yesterday the government would not axe the GAA, which he had described in opposition as a “complete waste of money". Now he said the Coalition government would keep the statutory authority and strengthen its powers.

He said the changed position was driven by a desire to get the best outcome.

“The government’s intention is to bring land to market quicker," he said. “I don’t think people are obsessed about the process, I think people are interested in an outcome.

“So for the moment we will be keeping the GAA structure and use that existing structure to bring land to market in a much quicker way. If it doesn’t work then of course we will go back and look at those structures."

Mr Guy said that under the Brumby government the process for strategic planning approval, known as precinct structure plans, took five years. By giving the GAA greater independence, collapsing processes and introducing statutory deadlines, Mr Guy said he hoped he could reduce that time substantially.